QB Representation in Madden - michapop9's Blog

michapop9's Blog

QB Representation in Madden

Posted on October 2, 2011 at 12:21 AM.

(15)

I posted this in a forum titled "QB accuracy and differentiation." Basically it was brought up that awarenes doesnt matter in user controlled qb's and cant matter due to the fact that we see the whole field and would make the same decisions with Tom Brady as with Jimmy Clausen. I just wanted to see what more people thought about the way Qb's are represented in Madden and have whatever other ideas there might be to better differentiate the most important position on the field when it comes to Madden NFL. I feel though Madden 12 is a decent game it still lacks severely in differentiating QB'S, so heres the post:

There are a number of ways to fix this that dont just involve a vision cone (tho that is my favorite one), make defense react quicker and play better for lower rated quarterbacks, limit number of icons you see or even better make the number of routes your able to see when you bring up the play limited, both on the playcall screen and on the field preplay. (combination of all these).

Thats not the only issue, how fast a quarterback releases the ball when he starts his throwing motion should be involved to.

Also qb accuracy can be slightly more exaggerated between qb's (especially more than it is now) since we can see the whole field, Im talking about a system where an 85 accuracy is different than an 89 accuracy (short, medium, or deep) in such a way where its not just missing a throw a certain number of times more or less than another different rated qb, but also by how much.

Sometimes the difference between an 85 and 89 accuracy rated qb could mean an incompletion with an average reciever where a great reciever with a high spectacular catch could make the grab where an 89 accuracy rating might of just hit him to where he made the catch but didnt get any YAC and then a 99 or 95 or whatever would of hit him in stride and he could of kept going. (just an example of a dynamic play.)

WERE TALKING ABOUT INCHES sometimes here, some quarterbacks can fit it into tight spaces whereas other qbs who arent that much less accurate cant. Lets get some variety here that can spark some really awesome looking plays depending on where the ball is being thrown and whos catching it. Im not saying Lower rated qb's cant fit it into to tight spaces, but the times they do are alot lower on top of generally being more inaccurate and not being able to make low percentage throws on the regular.

These low to average rated QB's have to stick to a gameplan that requires recievers to run alot of simple routes that dont require them to be pinpoint accurate and they have to rely on their running game, a QB with low awareness ratings cant read coverages like a smart or experienced one can. You can have any combination of both where one may be able to see the whole field but cant deliver a throw accurately very often, and another might not be able to read coverages or only see a certain part of the field but has a strong arm and can deliver it accurately. (Im obviously talking about the vision cone here

sad face). This is simple basic football stuff that is poorly represented in Madden.

There is such a limited outcome of throws in Madden it just cant differentiate 83 accuracy from 87, or even 85 from 99. Its either hit the reciever in the same spot or miss badly, and often a bad rated qb will miss just as much a good to elite rated one. Its just not cutting it. It needs to be more dynamic and depending on thier rating a small amount of points could be the difference between a catch and tackle, an interception, a catch with alot of YAC afterwards or an incompletion on any given play.

The lobbing over coverage is really lacking in this game too, its almost always batted down because its short where missed throws from qbs that are short are usually picked off. Most misses that result in incompletions are overthrown long. A great or even good reciever could possibly make a diving catch on these which even though it was marketed in Madden I havent really seen it, and if it is then its a canned play that would happen no matter who was throwing it. Tons of potential and great additions to gameplay with that idea alone.

The NFL is becoming (already is) a passing league, lets reflect that in Madden. Thoughts?

Comments

# 1 RageN.O.Saints @ Oct 2

i totally agree....in past maddens it was less difficult to pass deep now in madden 12 everytime you go down field its intercepted or tipped its terrible

# 2 RageN.O.Saints @ Oct 2

Madden 12 has improved players speed every year. but at the same time speed has never really changed the gameplay

# 3 Love The Lancer @ Oct 2

I can somewhat agree. Iv played madden Foreverrrrr now and I liked the vision cone as well but even that's not enough. It needa some kinda progression system. It'll completely change the madden we know and love but It would be fresh an pretty fun I think. The runnings pretty good but the passing does need some innovation. Like madden 06 said, year of the quarterback. That's what madden 13 should

# 4 Elgin2311 @ Oct 2

I love the post.... I was think they should let you set your own progression at the line. The icon pop up at the progression you set it at with better quaterback having faster moving progression. it would make awarness matter a whole lot more. Also I was thinking lower awarness should result in incomplete play art at the play call screen.

# 5 michapop9 @ Oct 2

yes the incomplete play art is a good idea, theres still a minor issue where theres 0-100 rating scale and only 5 possible routes so where are the cutoffs for number of routes seen, but its still just part of the equation. This is all just part of truly rewarding the user for having that great or good qb, its incentive to get them in the draft, or freeagency, it makes it exciting and worthwhile, now its just not there. It causes you to really have to have a gameplan also because you may or may not have limitations with your personnel's abilitys. The way it is now, for the most part you can do almost anything with any team and alot of that is because of the lack of differentiating quarterbacks or truly limiting the ability of either, average, bad, or inexperienced quarterbacks, even good QB's from Great QB's.

# 6 tril @ Oct 3

they have to involve the analog controsl more so. just like the analog controls found in 2k basketball 2k baseball and, MLB the Show.

Backbreaker had the QB anlog throwing concept in their game. camera angles made it horrible.

I would just implement control sticks and and some type of vision cones. The vision cones could be immplemnted by how well the QB and receiver play together. in otherwords both would have some type of awareness attribute.

An example a Brady/Welker cone/chemistry/attribute would have a wider range as opposed to say Brady/Chad Johnson, throw in the player performance eq fetaure into the mix, and youll have all sorts of fluctuating stats.

# 7 tril @ Oct 3

^^to add, overthrow, underthrow a receiver a few times, the cone gets smaller, complete a few passes and the cone could get bigger.
the use of the analog sticks to throw, is all about accuracy. and truthfully how accuarte can alot of qbs be while throwing under pressure. that could affect the fluctuation of the vision cone also.

# 8 rangerrick012 @ Oct 3

The only way to truly innovate the passing game would be to bring the vision cone or something like it back.

I know people seemed to hate it and made fun of it for looking like a flashlight out of the QBs head, but it really was the closest representation of what it's like out there, and I loved how elite QBs had wider vision and lesser had slimmer.

# 9 stlstudios189 @ Oct 3

the vision cone was something that I truely hated for about 5 games then I started to get used to it and it worked wonders I would play with a Tom Brady and throw 65% comp and then as a Tim Couch complete 54% of my passes I loved it for sure. Bring back the vision cone

# 10 wallofhate @ Oct 3

The problem with the vision cone is its design. Its somewhat of and eyesore and it takes away from the realism from a visual standpoint. I agree it definately did its job but its got to be a better way to impliment it or have it exist without it being seen. Maybe that feild vision thing that fifa had would be the answer that field procedural awareness or whatever its called. Plus some guys learned online how to move that vision cone around like crazy and it became "gimmicky" a little bit once they got good at it it didnt matter how bad the qb was because they had the buttons down (kind of like street fighter moves)

# 11 rudyjuly2 @ Oct 4

I agree. I'd like to see defenders get a boost in coverage when using a poor awareness QB myself. Or EA could change the icons up on your WRs after the snap occassionally causing confusion for the user. (ie the X receiver is now the O receiver creating delays and problems for you).

# 12 cmehustle @ Oct 4

Audibles and hot routes is one way to differentiate. Rookie QB's and unaware QB's should not have full access to all your audibles and hot routes the Peyton or Brady does. Also I never really liked the audible system anyway, you almost never see a team totally change formation into a different play, that is super fake. I am also a big fan of the vision cone, they should bring it back for all pro and all madden players, play on pro if you cant handle it. Or go play college.

# 13 Swingking77 @ Oct 4

There is an easy fix for that a lot of people haven't really expressed an interest in. In fact, I don't think I've really heard it mentioned anywhere. But, it would be like what they did with the running backs and taking away the sprint button... What I mean is, remove the player's ability to determin what kind of throw he's going to make. That way the CPU can use the ratings and do something with them as opposed to having them over run by the players. As for the vision cone idea, I'm a fan of having the buttons disapear or made inactive after some time, to prevent impossible passes from being made. I think a combination of my idea and that one, would solve the "cookie cutter" feeling among most QBs.

# 14 Swingking77 @ Oct 4

Also... It's not about boosting defense, it's about handicapping the QBs... Nothing more. Otherwise you end up with scrub players that end up looking like Ed Reed and Patrick Willis just because they're playing against (insert your crappy QB's name here).

# 15 michapop9 @ Oct 4

If anyone watched monday night football last night youd of seen alot of overthrows where the intent was to lob it over coverage on wheel routes, both Josh freeman and Christian Ponder missed a few times and they were all overthrown, not underthrown and batted down.